In the movie, Raising the Red Lantern, Chinese culture in the early twentieth century was portrayed very well. The film depicted the male dominance of the culture in general, highlighting the massive dependence upon men in marital situations. Most of the time, men chose who they would marry, how many times they would marry, and whether or not their wives would survive to see the next ones come along. The union in the movie was no exception; the "Master," as he was known by his four wives, was a very powerful man who, nightly, decided which wife he would go to bed with. Women were sorely looked down upon, being considered inferior in every way to the men of the Chinese culture. .
If a woman was caught cheating on her husband, she was left at the mercy, or lack thereof, of her husband. As was the case in the film, many of these unfaithful women died brutal deaths at the hands of their spouses. Women were expected to stay either in the house or in school, being scorned at the slightest hint of independence. No women held decent jobs, if they had jobs at all. Upper-class families relied mainly on the masses of wealth that their ancestors had collected throughout previous generations, opting to hire servants to perform even the simplest of tasks for them. .
In America today, culture is both similar to and different than that of early-twentieth century China. Women, though given so many opportunities to excel, are still rather looked down upon due to the former emphasis on male dominance in the country. While it used to be the woman's job to tend to the children and mend the socks, it is now the woman's job to try cases in court, operate in complicated surgical procedures, and even work in construction jobs throughout the country. America deems it unlawful to follow polygamous marriage practices due to the strongly Christian aspect of our government for the past several centuries, so now women just as much as men have the ability to choose their partners for lifelong relationships with only one another.
